I am using sway on Fedora, and my lock key combination is Ctrl-Alt-Del. Yes yes, it came from windows, guilty as charged.
I lock my screen at home so that the six year old doesn’t come and do something she not supposed to. I also leave it to auto lock after 5 minutes as well, just in case I forget to lock it in a rush or something.
I am more vigilant about locking my work laptop, as that has on sensitive emails. And I would not want a coworker to accidentally see something he is not supposed to see.
For your work laptop, do you guys lock your BIOS and boot?
I have fingerprint lock enabled on my ThinkPad for boot (or long password as backup method). Then auto-login enabled so I don’t have to type a password to get to the desktop. But then a very strict 5-minute idle autolock.
Yes, always. I do have a certain amount of time I allow it to remain unlocked; at home I’m less picky about it, but I still have it enabled. When in an office environment, even if I step two cubicles away, I ALWAYS lock the terminal, and allow only 5 minutes MAX if something unexpected causes me to forget or fail to lock; I have automatic lock enabled for those potential (rare) “I forgot” moments. So yes, explicitly locked in the vast majority of cases, automatic timed lock for those rare “I forgot” occasions!
nice, thanks for mentioning betterxsecurelock, even when xsecurelock is doing the heavy lifting of providing a secure locking mechanism for x11 environments to do all the integrations of the multiple programs needed to provide a user experience expected of modern software is not an easy task even if i say so myself.
I leave it unlocked and if people pass by without screwing with it, I stalk them and coerce them to mess with my computer. They are never very creative or devious when I do it this way…and apparently they are telling their friends because fewer and fewer people are coming around my computer. I feel really let down.
I work at a hospital so its kind of engrained in me to lock my computer when I have to leave, But was also in the military and that was also locked as soon as i left due to me taking my CAC out and it automatically locked the computer/laptop when i would leave.
I answered this once in September 2025 but I’ll share a different answer now:
When I worked in business - YES, absolutely, ALWAYS lock system if I’m taking even a SHORT break away from my desk.
I’m retired, and I’ve been retired since the beginning of 2018.
Now that I “work” from a system in a senior citizen complex, I have no fear about immediately closing or locking my system, BUT old habits die slowly. On my antiX (lean distribution), I have an OLD x-based utility called xlockmore-gl, which allows me to lock the screen and display a bunch of analog clocks moving around the screen - so they won’t etch in some crazy design. I used to use Jamie Zawinski’s xscreensaver, xscreensaver-gl, xscreensaver-gl-extra packages and then I’d configure it to have my own name or ID showing and the time moving around the screensaver - so I tend to like screensavers that show the time.
I’m not quite as insistent on screen locking in my own home, though it’s still a practice. When I’m done for the day I power off. When I was at work, I’d lock the screen and shut off the monitor, but keep the system running UNLESS I was expecting an electrical storm or power outage, then I’d power off. Now I ALWAYS power off when I’m done for the day.
I answered this once in September 2025 but I’ll share a different answer now:
When I worked in business - YES, absolutely, ALWAYS lock system if I’m taking even a SHORT break away from my desk.
I’m retired, and I’ve been retired since the beginning of 2018.
Now that I “work” from a system in a senior citizen complex, I have no fear about immediately closing or locking my system, BUT old habits die slowly. On my antiX (lean distribution), I have an OLD x-based utility called xlockmore-gl, which allows me to lock the screen and display a bunch of analog clocks moving around the screen - so they won’t etch in some crazy design. I used to use Jamie Zawinski’s xscreensaver, xscreensaver-gl, xscreensaver-gl-extra packages and then I’d configure it to have my own name or ID showing and the time moving around the screensaver - so I tend to like screensavers that show the time.
I’m not quite as insistent on screen locking in my own home, though it’s still a practice. When I’m done for the day I power off. When I was at work, I’d lock the screen and shut off the monitor, but keep the system running UNLESS I was expecting an electrical storm or power outage, then I’d power off. Now I ALWAYS power off when I’m done for the day.
Sounds like your biggest security threat.